USS Mount Whitney on way to Lebanon for unscheduled mission

The U.S. Navy’s 6th Fleet flagship, the USS Mount Whitney, sails this week for an unscheduled deployment toward Lebanon and Cyprus to support Navy ships already at sea, Navy and U.S. officials said.

"[The ship] is deploying to assist with logistical missions and supporting assets at sea in the Mediterranean," said Lt. Patrick Foughty, a 6th Fleet spokesman. "It will be supporting additional communication requirements for our ships already underway" in the 6th Fleet area of operations.

He declined to provide details, citing security reasons. "I can say we don’t have any long-term plans to keep the Mount Whitney away from its home base."

Communications is the primary mission of the Mount Whitney, homeported in Gaeta, Italy.

The Mount Whitney deployed in 2006 as the command and control ship for evacuation efforts of some 15,000 Americans from Lebanon.

Violence erupted once again last week in the embattled nation, but this time between the U.S.- and Western-backed government and Hezbollah-led opposition.

The violence forced the closure of the international airport in Beirut a week ago. The U.S. Embassy in Cyprus stepped in and began helping U.S. Embassy staffers in Beirut by providing helicopter support to ferry in personnel and supplies such as in mail, said a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Cyprus.

"With the airport inaccessible, we have to be able to re-supply the embassy."

A spokesman from the U.S. Embassy in Beirut did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

In July 2006, 15,000 people were evacuated from Lebanon to Cyprus after war broke out between Hezbollah and Israel; and the U.S. military diverted some of its naval, air and ground assets to the region to help in the evacuation efforts.